Officials: Hospital Deal In Works

August 27, 2002|By Glenn Singer Health Writer

Fort Lauderdale officials and beach area residents' representatives plan to announce on Wednesday that a deal has been struck to sell the former Cleveland Clinic Hospital to a group planning to open a wellness center and an emergency room there.

The hospital closed in July 2001, moved to Weston and left behind residents who feared that drawbridges would delay ambulances carrying them to hospitals across the Intracoastal Waterway. Rescue officials discounted that fear, but activists have searched for someone to reopen the hospital and provide emergency care.

The activists, many of them members of the North Beach Island Alliance, and some city commissioners think the problem has been solved, though they are tight-lipped about the details.

"A deal has been made. It's certain, and it's very exciting," City Commissioner Tim Smith said on Monday. "There is a substantial amount of money involved. It's nonrefundable. Some top-notch people are affiliated with the plan."

Smith would not provide further details, saying that particulars would be released at a news conference at the former hospital on Wednesday.

Cleveland Clinic spokeswoman Mimi Murphy said on Monday that she could not comment on the deal.

"We're very optimistic this will be the answer we've been seeking," said the North Beach Island Alliance's Mark Hariton. "We're been working very hard for a year to get an emergency room back. It has been a major concern of many residents."

But restoring an emergency room might be more difficult than some advocates think, City Commissioner Gloria Katz said.

"There are a lot of serious questions to ask and to answer before an emergency room could open there," Katz said.

At a standalone emergency room, for example, heart patients could be stabilized. But they then might need to go to a hospital for tests or surgery. The delay in getting them there could cause greater problems, she said.

Other observers noted that emergency rooms often lose money and that it's difficult to find doctors willing to work in them.

As for the entire complex, state health officials have said it would require major renovations to meet higher standards for hurricane safety and medical care. The tax-assisted North Broward Hospital District and at least four private operators considered taking over the site, but all balked.

A company called Med-Well Health Centres Inc. notified the state's Agency for Health Care Administration a year ago that it would apply to open a "full-service hospital" at the site with surgery, heart care and obstetrics. But the idea fizzled. The Florida secretary of state lists a company with that name in Wilton Manors that was dissolved in September.

Glenn Singer can be reached at gsinger@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6612.